


Forbidden

by BulletNick



Category: Monolith (Video Game)
Genre: Human, after the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23844046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BulletNick/pseuds/BulletNick
Summary: Null finally enters the sixth floor. And the more she endures this final gauntlet, the more she realises that it was sealed for very good reasons.
Kudos: 1





	Forbidden

**Author's Note:**

> One of two works written for Echofar's Halloween 2019 Monolith marathon stream.

Once again, the Overlord had been defeated. Null breathed shakily in her cockpit, her hands gripping onto the flight controls with tense muscles, as a few beads of sweat ran down her face. She kept staring at the exploding, collapsing, breaking mechanical colossus in front of her. Defeating it once had proven to be an immense ordeal - doing it twice, to satisfy her curiosity and see what those seals were for, somehow felt more stressful. Now she had the feeling that it wasn’t quite the end yet. There was something else beyond this gate.

The destruction finally ceased, and the smoke cleared. And this time, the gate in front of her opened, the four seals glowing bright orange, letting her navigate further into the depths. She flew forward just a bit to peek into the descent shaft, but as always, the darkness was too thick to see anything but just the sequence of lights guiding her down.

She felt a chill shiver down her spine. As she gathered her breath and composure again, wiping away the sweat, she couldn’t shake an anxious feeling. _There’s probably a reason why this is so fiercely guarded._ But she couldn’t turn around now, she’d fought too much to just quit when the path was clear. With uneasy trepidation, she pushed onwards and descended down. The guiding lights seemed to fly past her, but the end of this tunnel was still shrouded in darkness, despite her ship’s searchlights.

Eventually the sensors detected that the tunnel ended just a few hundred meters away, so she slowed down carefully, checking for any threats nearby. The scanner remained silent, just like every other floor entrance. _And yet I feel like they’re waiting for me._ It was still too dark to make out her surroundings, but after her eyes shifted to the shadowy scenery, Null had to resist a small rush of panic crossing her brain.

This floor was… unsettling. She was having trouble even comprehending what kind of place this was. Ravaged machinery that once occupied every corner of this place, now torn and covered in a thick blackness that seemed to wane and pulsate. Beneath the walls and floor, gaping holes where the very guts of the facility were bare, glowing a menacing orange, warping ominously and piping power to the entire floor. The very air felt strange and heavy, and the silence was deafening. _It’s watching me. I can feel it looking at me._

It took several seconds for her mind to focus on the task at hand. Swallowing down a big lump of fear, Null continued surveying rooms and taking down threats. At first, she seemed to encounter mostly familiar enemies, ones she knew and had grown accustomed to. For a moment, it almost seemed like surviving here wasn’t going to be a big deal.

Then the very walls started to attack her. She’d been cornered, but managed to kill the last of the remaining ghosts just seconds before it’d slam her ship. For a second she felt safe, before hearing a small crash and everything suddenly lurched forwards, the ship’s computer warning about damage from behind. Her hands clumsily tried to straighten the ship before finally regaining control. She turned around just in time to see a big chunk of the wall had come alive and was now headed straight for her.

She couldn’t help but give a yelp as in a panic she tried her best to fly away and destroy the enemy, sinking shots into them as they chased her, and thankfully they didn’t seem to be too resilient. Once they were defeated, she frantically double-checked every single corner of the room. Nothing seemed to be attacking her. For now. But she couldn’t let her guard down for even a second. Null gripped the controls even more tightly than when fighting Overlord. At least in that case, the threat was clear, visible, loud, and predictable.

But here… she had no idea what to expect, or what danger and what enemies lurked down here. She tried her best to push the paranoia away… but with every room encountered, her thoughts become more and more paralysed with fear. Enemies that were a scarce and powerful sight not too long ago now could be seen many times just seconds apart. This place was oozing with power and dangerous creatures, twisted and hollowed, without a soul, as the Power had transformed them all.

Null kept desperately hoping, waiting for some kind of help to arrive, but this floor was almost barren. There were almost no rooms to rest and refuel at all. Down here, not the shopkeeper dared to tread. It was far too hostile. It only drove the point further; she was all alone down here, with no help, and no idea what was waiting ahead of her. She looked at the ship’s remaining resources… would it be enough to last her?

Room after room, she kept clearing every hallway she could find, with the faint hope that perhaps she’d find enough goodies between the debris and cracked walls to make her last a little longer. But the floor just kept on going and going, until it was even larger than the last one, and there were still places left to explore. She wondered how deep underground she’d gone, how isolated this hellish plane was to contain and maintain such powerful threats.

Finally, Null reached the door to the floor’s guardian, and alas, the nimbus seals were all gone, so she could proceed right away. She took a minute to put her head in her hands, and let out a tense and anxious deep breath. She was way in over her head, and she knew it. She was tired, lonely, and really wanted some much-needed respite from this.

Leaning back in her seat, she looked out from the cockpit window as the ship idly hovered by the room’s entrance. Here she was, stuck fighting all alone for survival in a dark, twisted, foreboding place from which she knew no way out, and the ship was not in good condition. She had enough ammo and hull integrity left to get by, but certainly not to confidently take down a giant. And yet, she knew that she’d have no choice but to do just that. _All I want is to call D-13 for help, but he has no idea where I am…_

Absent-mindedly staring at the strange warping runic-like structures beyond the floor, she found the pattern to be quite beautiful, and… almost… hypnotic. Like somehow, looking at it, fixating it, seeing how it changed and flowed, she was gaining some kind of… understanding? Knowledge? Insight? She couldn’t describe it.

She shook her head and snapped herself back to the present. This place was taking a toll on her will, she wanted nothing to do but to get out of here as soon as possible. And the only way to proceed was waiting for her to accept the challenge. Taking a few deep breaths, readjusting her posture, and with as firm a grip on everything and she could manage, she opened fire to break the gate.

As soon as the gate broke open, the entire world went dark for Null. Complete, absolute darkness encompassed her. She steeled herself for whatever would show up in front of her. Except all she saw was a bright light to her side, almost like it was staring at her. Following her instincts, she swiftly dodged it just as it unleashed a laser and small explosion of bullets. A few more were appearing, trying to catch her off guard, but she kept flying away. All the while, the ship’s computer was busy trying to analyse and find something about whatever was hiding in the dark.

Nothing. No data. Not a thing. Entity Unknown, was all it bothered to tell her. _What do you mean “nothing”? Can’t you even show me what’s in front of me?_ She then felt a deep rumble coming from below her. Reflexively she tilted her ship to get a look at what it was. She immediately regretted it as all she found was a massive mechanical eye staring right back at her, focused squarely on her. The entire room was shaking.

That’s when she realised. That wasn’t the floor. That WAS her enemy, almost as big as the entire room itself. Staring deep into her. As the machine slowly activated with Power glowing through its wires, its true size became more apparent. Null was momentarily unable to move or even look away from this mysterious foe. Right now, even more so than against Overlord, she truly feared that she was going to die right here. 

_This is it. This is the end for me._

And as four lasers suddenly targeted her, Null flew away, and started fighting against the facility’s last guardian, the true gatekeeper for the Power Eternal. A gigantic, sentient, overwhelming machine, ready to annihilate her, as Null desperately fought for her life, and her victory.


End file.
